Excursion costs Cunard Queen Victoria

[H926PDC]

Hi I’m new to cruising and looking at booking our first Mediterranean cruise for September 2024. 
Could member’s give me a rough idea of cost of shore excursions?

I appreciate this will vary from port to port, but I’m just trying to get an idea of costs. 
 

Thanks

Gary

[BigMac1953]

How long is a bit of string?

 

There are many types of tours ranging from low price walking ones to full day with lunch.

 

It very much depends on the activities.

 

However, Cunard is not cheap, only convenient.

 

What are your ports of call? If we know this, then we might be able to give you specific advice.

[PORT ROYAL]

1 hour ago, H926PDC said:

Hi I’m new to cruising and looking at booking our first Mediterranean cruise for September 2024. 
Could member’s give me a rough idea of cost of shore excursions?

I appreciate this will vary from port to port, but I’m just trying to get an idea of costs. 
 

Thanks

Gary

Welcome to CC

@BigMac1953 has given excellent advice.  Just post ports/places of interest and CC will give ideas of Cunard prices, also independent operations, CC members organised and DIY.  

 

Price range indication (personal experience) $60 - $200 pp

[BklynBoy8]

1 hour ago, H926PDC said:

Hi I’m new to cruising and looking at booking our first Mediterranean cruise for September 2024. 
Could member’s give me a rough idea of cost of shore excursions?

I appreciate this will vary from port to port, but I’m just trying to get an idea of costs. 
 

Thanks

Gary

 

When booked and the shore excursions are posted, you will be able to view the complete details of each excursion in your booking in My Cunard with your booking number.

 

Will tell you the name, time of day, length of tour, cost pp and description of tour sights and locations. Also the stress level the tour may effect some disabilities of passengers. 

 

If wish, you can before boarding purchase tour with a personal credit card. 

 

 

[H926PDC]

1 hour ago, BigMac1953 said:

How long is a bit of string?

 

There are many types of tours ranging from low price walking ones to full day with lunch.

 

It very much depends on the activities.

 

However, Cunard is not cheap, only convenient.

 

What are your ports of call? If we know this, then we might be able to give you specific advice.

Expected ports of call are Rome (Civitavecchia) Cephalonia, Corfu, Kotor, Dubrovnik, Trieste, Zadar, Split, Valletta, Palma and Barcelona 

[ovccruiser]

If you plan on visiting Rome, I would certainly recommend using Cunard tour. My experience is long queues for everything which the Cunard tour guides, yes there are usually 2, will manage to bypass.

If visiting Barcelona do it yourself and buy HOHO tickets and you will see many sites quite cheaply.

 

Edited July 26, 2023 by ovccruiser

[BigMac1953]

Cunard trips are quite expensive, so you can sometimes do better by yourself.

 

Rome: Cunard trips are slow, expensive and too rigid. Have a look at https://www.discoveryguidedtours.com/ the boss is Gilberto Stanzioni who is fluent English. They can cater for 2 - 8 in cars or Viano. They'll put togather a day that you decide and organise tickets etc.. Used them 3 times and so have other friends. Ideal number is 6 people. On one occasion, there was a massive traffic jam and the Cunard trips were stuck for hours. We just nipped around the back streets and saw everything that we wanted. Put it on Roll Call and see if anyone wants to team up. That's what we did and it worked great.

 

Dubrovnik: Walk the wall and visit some bars and restaurants.

 

Trieste: Venice is less than an hour by train. Check Trenitalia.com for times and prices. In Venice. Gondolas are not cheap and you only go round a block. Best just walk the city.

 

Barcelona: You can get a HoHo bus near the docks (as suggested), but stick to the tourist areas and don't take valuables.

 

Palma: We walked it.

 

Can't comment on the rest.

 

We'll be back around the Med in 2025 on QM2, and be doing some of the ports again.

 

Have fun!

 

[Host Hattie]

There is a usually a good selection of excursions in ports. Hopefully someone with a current booking can give you some idea of costs. 

If you join your roll call you might find people to share tours.

Otherwise there is lots of information about private tours in our Ports of Call boards.

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/forum/472-mediterranean-eastern-western/

 

 

 

[NE John]

As you mentioned that you’re a first time cruiser, maybe you want to use Cunard excursions (at least for Rome) as the ship will wait for you if there are delays getting back to the ship. We almost missed the QE in Greece because we took public transportation and the schedule was totally different than what was printed. 
Civitavecchia is a long way from Rome with traffic so I wouldn’t chance taking a third party tour for that port. 

[BigMac1953]

I beg to differ!

 

I would certainly NOT take a Cunard trip in Rome. The private tour that I described can be cheaper and more reliable (if there are 6 of you) and I've recommended a well known and reputable company that specialises in exactly this type of excursion. Neither I nor anyone we know has ever been let down by this company.

 

You will also see a lot more and won't have to wait on a queue of old ladies when you make a pit stop.

[NE John]

2 minutes ago, BigMac1953 said:

I beg to differ!

 

I would certainly NOT take a Cunard trip in Rome. The private tour that I described can be cheaper and more reliable (if there are 6 of you) and I've recommended a well known and reputable company that specialises in exactly this type of excursion. Neither I nor anyone we know has ever been let down by this company.

 

You will also see a lot more and won't have to wait on a queue of old ladies when you make a pit stop.

You’re probably right but as OP is a rookie cruiser, there may be a level of comfort if not worrying about missing the boat. But you’re right about costs and ease of movement. 
I believe the real issue is any attempt in “doing” Rome in a few hours on any cruise ship excursion. Lots of transport hassle to see an incredible city that really needs days to enjoy. 
See if there is a trip offered to Ostia Antica, the port of the Roman Empire. You’ll get a flavor of Rome in a “bite-sized” tour without the throngs of crowds. Check it out if available on your cruise. 
Save Rome for a multi day trip. 

[foodsvcmgr]

Interestingly I have found shore excursions over the years to be much more costly on Celebrity and NCL than Cunard.

For our upcoming British Isles on QV they were typically around $79 per.

I did book Belfast and Cobh independently for a bit less as the Cunard tours didn’t appeal, the other advantage as has been stated is smaller groups.

[TowandaUK]

45 minutes ago, foodsvcmgr said:

Interestingly I have found shore excursions over the years to be much more costly on Celebrity and NCL than Cunard.

For our upcoming British Isles on QV they were typically around $79 per.

I did book Belfast and Cobh independently for a bit less as the Cunard tours didn’t appeal, the other advantage as has been stated is smaller groups.

 

[TowandaUK]

We are first time cruisers with Cunard, having had previous cruises with Celebrity. I agree with you that Celebrity tours are much more expensive than Cunard. We have booked to go to the Canaries this time and tours range from £40 to £180. 

[WoorimBeachLady]

[exlondoner]

I think in most of the places you are thinking about a tour is not necessary.  We would just take the shuttle bus to town then wander round.

[Solent Richard]

16 hours ago, H926PDC said:

Expected ports of call are Rome (Civitavecchia) Cephalonia, Corfu, Kotor, Dubrovnik, Trieste, Zadar, Split, Valletta, Palma and Barcelona 

Good morning @H926PDC. Unless you have serious mobility issues there are a number of ports there that can easily be done without booking excursions. Take Zadar for instance...

 

https://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/2023/01/27/one-way-to-do-zadar-croatia/

 

A recent addition to my cruise blog port visit section. Just click on the above link.

 

 

******

 

 

 

[Solent Richard]

26 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

I think in most of the places you are thinking about a tour is not necessary.  We would just take the shuttle bus to town then wander round.

Alas I've never been one to just wander. When not partaking in a planned excursion I must have a plan in order to get the best out of places. 

 

For example, for Zadar (see link above) I had a plan...

 

 

 

[Solent Richard]

16 hours ago, BigMac1953 said:

Cunard trips are quite expensive, so you can sometimes do better by yourself.

 

Rome: Cunard trips are slow, expensive and too rigid. Have a look at https://www.discoveryguidedtours.com/ the boss is Gilberto Stanzioni who is fluent English. They can cater for 2 - 8 in cars or Viano. They'll put togather a day that you decide and organise tickets etc.. Used them 3 times and so have other friends. Ideal number is 6 people. On one occasion, there was a massive traffic jam and the Cunard trips were stuck for hours. We just nipped around the back streets and saw everything that we wanted. Put it on Roll Call and see if anyone wants to team up. That's what we did and it worked great.

 

Dubrovnik: Walk the wall and visit some bars and restaurants.

 

Trieste: Venice is less than an hour by train. Check Trenitalia.com for times and prices. In Venice. Gondolas are not cheap and you only go round a block. Best just walk the city.

 

Barcelona: You can get a HoHo bus near the docks (as suggested), but stick to the tourist areas and don't take valuables.

 

Palma: We walked it.

 

Can't comment on the rest.

 

We'll be back around the Med in 2025 on QM2, and be doing some of the ports again.

 

Have fun!

 

 

Dubrovnik: Walk the wall and visit some bars and restaurants.

 

Yep, that's exactly what I'd do - and did a little bit more....

 

https://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/2013/09/05/one-way-to-do-dubrovnik/

 

 

*******

 

 

 

[exlondoner]

39 minutes ago, Solent Richard said:

Alas I've never been one to just wander. When not partaking in a planned excursion I must have a plan in order to get the best out of places. 

 

For example, for Zadar (see link above) I had a plan...

 

 

 

Your loss, at any rate in terms of relaxation. For it is a holiday not a military exercise. I would wander off the ship, with a map, and probably see most of the same things. I must say I should certainly like to visit Zadar.

[H926PDC]

48 minutes ago, Solent Richard said:

 

Dubrovnik: Walk the wall and visit some bars and restaurants.

 

Yep, that's exactly what I'd do - and did a little bit more....

 

https://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/2013/09/05/one-way-to-do-dubrovnik/

 

 

*******

 

 

 

Thank you. Interesting blog too 👍

[Victoria2]

23 hours ago, H926PDC said:

Hi I’m new to cruising and looking at booking our first Mediterranean cruise for September 2024. 
Could member’s give me a rough idea of cost of shore excursions?

I appreciate this will vary from port to port, but I’m just trying to get an idea of costs. 
 

Thanks

Gary

If this helps to give a flavour of pricing, two examples of Cunard tours on the present QV cruise.

[starquake]

If it helps we tend to work out the cruise port location and if buses ran by Cunard (often are).... and use this to decide on if to take a tour in first place.    As an example - Lisbon IMHO you don't need a tour, as we found a drop off by bus with a map and a leisurely 3-5 hour stroll back to ship was enough to see all we wanted to see.

 

But same was true of the cruise we got off last week on Victoria to Norway -> we found Olden benefited from a tour, so we did use that (Glacier troll car), however at all the other stops we either used a local hop on hop us trolley thing or bus at *under* 30% of the cost of the cunard tours which done much the same or just walked when it made sense, and the payment place was usually right outside the entrance to the ports secure area, so in a way, as convienient as paying on board.    We beat the Cunard bus to the funicular at Bergen too, so avoided all the queues and people by being there near opening time (though we walked that with a map, and just paid contactless on arrival at the funicular).   That was a 7 day cruise with 4 stops, and we only purchased a Cunard tour on one, which is about our "average" historically.

 

We used to worry about getting back to ship when we were new cruisers, but we now usually plan to leave ship on arrival (ideally 8 or 9am) and get back for lunch ~ 1pm as a target, usually 3-4 hours ahead of ship leaving.   (we plan our itinary to match).   My wife sometimes goes back out for shopping afterwards.

 

[MrsPeel55]

On 7/26/2023 at 1:30 PM, H926PDC said:

Hi I’m new to cruising and looking at booking our first Mediterranean cruise for September 2024. 
Could member’s give me a rough idea of cost of shore excursions?

I appreciate this will vary from port to port, but I’m just trying to get an idea of costs. 
 

Thanks

Gary

 

HI 🙂

Haven't read all of the replies, so apologies if this has been said, but I thought I give you my opinion ... 

We are not completely new to cruising, last was in 2010 and all the cruises before that, my husband was the one who was amazing at managing all our bookings, our daughter was very young and we always had a good time, unfortunately my husband has dementia and does not live with us now, so I my daughter and I booked directly with Cunard, on the phone, a West Med cruise that sails this September.

Like someone well said before, the shore tours go from around US$60 (the prices are on United States Dollars), to 200, depending on the experience, some include wine tasting, others a full lunch experience, all depends where and what you are doing, In our itinerary,  the most expensive I saw was a $250, but our itinerary is a bit different to yours.

 

The one thing that made us book with Cunard, even though they are a bit (in some cases a lot) more expensive than if we went out on our own or took a non Cunard tour, is that if anything at all happens with the NON Cunard tour, traffic that delays yours bus return, anything at all that can delay your return to the ship, they won't wait for you.

If anything at all happens, but you are on a bus that is a Cunard shore tour, you are 100% sure you will be back on your cabin and carry on with your fabulous cruising experience.

With us, there is also the fact that I am mobility impaired and need a wheelchair for long distances, this makes us even more weary to do anything that wont guarantee our return to the ship. 

Hope you have a great time!

[H926PDC]

Thank you for your advice Mrs Peel. I hope you and your daughter have a fabulous time, and best wishes regarding your husband